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Members of the Boise City Council are (back, L-R) council members TJ Thomson, Ben Quintana, Lauren McLean, Scot Ludwig (front, L-R) Council Pro Tem Elaine Clegg, Mayor David H. Bieter and Council President Maryanne Jordan.

The Mayor works full-time, managing the day-to-day operations of the City and providing leadership and policy direction to the City Council. The Mayor chairs all meetings of the City Council, voting only in the case of a tie. The six members of the City Council work part-time, holding budget and policy-setting authority for the city. The Mayor and City Council members are elected at large by popular vote. City Council members are elected to a specific Council seat, but the seats are not determined geographically. City elections are held in odd number years (e.g. 2007, 2009, 2011).

Chief's Comments: Testimony re: SB 1254

Thank you Chairman McKenzie and members of the State Senate Affairs Committee for the opportunity to testify today.

My Name is Mike Masterson. I am Chief of Police of the Boise Police Dept., a position I’ve held since Jan. 2, 2005. I have been a police officer for 37 years.

I believe the proposed legislation found in SB 1254 is well intended but creates many unintended consequences. I’m here to oppose this legislation and am joined by virtually all police chiefs across the state policing Idaho’s college campuses as well as presenting a letter from Chief Dan Hall, President of the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association opposing this bill.

I believe our current policy which allows each university president the authority to determine safety measures on their respective campuses is the best practice. At Boise State, current law enforcement officers, on and off duty, in uniform or dressed in plain clothes, as well as qualified retired law enforcement are permitted to carry a concealed weapon. These folks have received hundreds of hours of training throughout their careers which makes them uniquely qualified to handle the unlikely event of a crime being committed in their presence.

My objection in expanding CCW to those who have an enhanced training is based on the insufficient training and preparation they receive to carry in these environments. The enhanced CCW covers 8 hours of training. It covers the very basics in classroom instruction and in firearms qualification. 98 rounds of punching holes in paper is a far cry from the countless hours of training we teach our police officers. We prepare our officers for crisis situations, physiological, psychological and mechanical, teaching them how the heart rate increases, blood flow is restricted to appendages, muscle memory is developed, and our brains automatically reduce our vision (tunnel vision) to the item we focus on. It takes hundreds of hours of training to overcome how our bodies undermine our decisions to use force appropriately.

Our weapons training involves shooting at moving threats, moving while shooting and shooting from cover. This proficiency occurs because of repetitive training and is a perishable skill, that’s why it is repeated regularly. Confidence, often inspired by movies, video games and are own mindsets, usually exceeds our personal abilities. The hard, undeniable truth is that CCW class doesn’t teach everything that needs to be taught for these special crowded situations and doesn’t require the repetition required to maintain those skills. Every firearm expert will tell you that only a small fraction of the shots fired by a trained individual, police officer or citizen will actually hit the target. That accuracy is questionable and a real life danger exists of shooting innocent people who may be running for their lives or paralyzed by fear in a stationary position. That’s not the type of odds a trained police officer wants to face and that’s not an answer I want to give to parents of students who may be injured or killed because we don’t consider the unintended consequences of the laws we pass and the actions we take as a result of them.

I’m concerned about a self-activation of a CCW on a campus and the potential to be involved in a deadly force encounter with an law enforcement officer. We see those deadly encounters often enough in blue on blue shootings where another officer , even in uniform is the victim. We have crowded environments where dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people congregate, whether it’s a classroom, performing center or stadium parking lot to root on your favorite college football team. When the opportunity to mix firearms with alcohol is available we have seen far too often the tragic consequences.

If you get time time please visit http://youtu.be/8QjZY3WiO9s and view a nine minute video on a controlled study on a college campus involving a wide range of people with varying amounts of weapons familiarity and their ability to react effectively to armed aggressors. Most CCW holders won't even be able to un-holster their gun and they will more likely be killed themselves or kill innocent bystanders than stop the aggressor.

Please consider this testimony, that of my experienced colleagues, our college campus leaders and experts and do not approve SB1254. Thank you.